Dunilowicze — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

The beginnings of the Jewish community in Duniłowicze are not clear, but it seems that the settlement started late, perhaps it dates back to the late 18th century. On the 23rd June 1794, when Poland was already under occupation, Catherine II issued a decree on the borders of the Jewish settlement which ordered the Jewish population to concentrate in towns and cities. In 1800, Duniłowicze had 101 houses and 564 inhabitants. Ignacy Janiszewski was the owner of 89 of these houses. Twelve houses were defined as “Jewish”. It is directly confirmed by The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, which dates the arrival of the local community at the early 19th centuryThe increase of the community was fostered by fairs organized twice a year. In 1847, 362 Jews lived in Dunilowicze. They were owners of the majority of stalls and shops. In 1897, the community reached its highest number – 1553 people, which made up for 85,5% of the total population. Since 1899 the rabbi in Duniłowicze was Jeszua Nemojtyn (1860–?).

After the outbreak of World War I the situation of the Jewish population deteriorated sharply. Dunilowicze was passed from hand to hand twice. In August 1915, when the front line came to town, anti-Jewish moods started to spread that were related to the so-called money hunger, i.e. lack of coins (materials used to produce them were used for warfare purposes). On the 3rd September 1915, German troops marched into Dunilowicze and the Jewish stalls were plundered. On the 6th September 1915, the town found itself in the hands of the Russian Cossacks, who perpetrated pogroms, and the Jewish estates kept on being ravaged.

The situation of the Jewish community was stabilized in the interwar period, even though there were significantly fewer Jews than before 1914 – 685 people in 1931. The risk of a post-war famine was managed effectively thanks to production of home gardens. Trade had its revival, also in form of stalls at the market, although in the new situation it had to struggle with high taxes and competition from Poland’s neighbors. In 1924, a Yiddish school was opened. It became the town’s cultural center, with a drama club, library and courses for adults being added later on. Regarding the politics, there was a growth in the number of Zionists, Hechalutz Hatzair and Hashomer Hatzair were also active. In the interwar period three synagogues functioned in the town.

The advent of the Soviet occupation in 1939 meant nationalization of trade and small manufacturing and also nipping any form of cultural autonomy in the bud. Germans entered the town on the 25th June 1941. Using the assistance of local anti-Semites and Volksdeutsche, they sacked Jewish houses and properties. The occupiers also made a census of the Jewish population. Jews could not walk on the sidewalk, stay in hospitals or go to school. Their clothes were supposed to be labeled with a round badge with a yellow Start of David. It is apparent from the documents of the Extraordinary State Commission, established to inspect the crimes committed by German occupiers in Dunilowicze and its surroundings, that “...in December 1941 the whole Jewish population of Dunilowicze had to appear before the gendarmerie headquarters. Surrounded by the police, the Jews were rushed to the bank of the Zarezanka river. They had to go into the water up to the neck and then they were made to get out back to the bank crawling on their stomach. When somebody did not want to surrended to this abuse, he was beaten with rifle butts.

In January 1942 a ghetto was set up, with ca. 900 people confined, along one of the streets. In the summer 1942, 979 Jews stayed there. The prisoners were used by Germans to do forced labor in a lumber mill, tobacco factory and canal digging. The daily ration of bread was ca. 100 grams.

One can read in the mentioned documents of the Extraordinary State Commission that “November 1942 was the start of mass executions of Jews”. The first mass crime, which took place at the Jewish cemetery, was shooting to death of an unknown number of Jews from Dunilowicze and Postawy on the 12th November 1942, which was commemorated with a monument after World War II.

Afterwards “a special unit consisting of 35 Germans came from Hlybokaye. During 3 days it exhausted and executed by firing squad 828 people, 300 of whom were children. On the night of the 21st November 1942, 35 Germans arrived at the ghetto in four cars. They pull out rifles and started to shoot at houses. When the sun went down [that is on the 22nd November 1942] all the Jews who survived were expelled from their houses. The executioners rushed them to a barn. Once inside, the Jews were stripped to their underwear and expelled to the street in groups of 3-4 people. There the drunk Germans shot them with rifles”. The crime of genocide lasted until the 23rd November 1942.

According to post-war accounts, there were at least two Jews in Dunilowicze after 1945. One of them, who died in 1950, was even funded a matzevah on the local cemetery by his neighbors. The second one, his family name being Ruderman, survived the German occupation serving in the Red Army. On his return in 1958 he funded from his own funds a monument to Holocaust victims on the cemetery.

From:Sztetle